The first phase of the Easy Export Platform that is set to provide multilayered and unique information to exporters with its artificial intelligence- (AI) based system was launched Friday, Turkish Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan said. Work on the second phase of the platform is ongoing and expected to be commissioned over this year.
Pekcan introduced the export platform during a meeting held at the presidential office at Dolmabahçe Palace in Istanbul. The platform was developed with a vision of digital transformation in export businesses and aimed at providing significant contributions to Turkey's export potential.
Pekcan said the ministry wants to reach a large segment of entrepreneurs who have export-oriented business ideas – with 90,000 export businesses and over 3 million small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) being the primary targets. She noted that at the very basis of the platform there is a target market recommendation tool called the Smart Export Robot.
The minister stated that this robot, which also uses machine learning algorithms, gives companies objective and data-based results on which markets they can open for the products they are interested in.
"Our exporters and potential exporters will be able to access all kinds of information they need in both the preparation and export processes through this platform," Pekcan said, noting that it is a structure that produces easy-to-understand outputs and conducts market analysis using AI technology effectively.
The platform will produce solutions by using more than 10 million lines of data for more than 10,000 data fields regarding over 5,400 products and 190 countries.
"Digital data and information will flow to the Easy Export Platform from 15 different domestic and foreign sources," Pekcan said. She noted that thanks to fast and comprehensive data flow and automatic data integration, it will always have an up-to-date infrastructure and "in this way, we will provide a free digital consultancy service that directly supports trade."
Up-to-date data flow
Pekcan said the Easy Export Platform offers exporters much higher-quality service than its counterparts worldwide in terms of both its scope and user experience.
She stressed that the ministry provides up-to-date foreign trade data from international sources such as the United Nations and the World Bank based on country and sector along with so-called commercial attraction factors, noting "the information provided by the ministry on different digital platforms will also be brought together on this platform."
Saying that the Smart Export Report can provide companies with much more specific recommendations solely by processing the customs declarations provided by the Trade Ministry, Pekcan said that the notes by the trade consultants in different countries will also be integrated into the Easy Export Platform via the Foreign Representation Management System.
The minister said that thanks to this platform, exporters will receive answers via AI technology for their questions regarding potential businesses, including questions like where to export, which product to export and how a company’s market share would be in the country it plans to export to.
"The Smart Export Robot first learns what the exporter wants to do, then scores the countries according to their potential and attractiveness based on criteria such as sustainability and ease of adhering to the market. It shares its prioritized suggestions, taking into account the business history of the exporter," Pekcan explained.
In addition to the Smart Export Robot, the Market Entry Map and Country Page modules also contain critical information such as socioeconomic indicators related to the target market, market shares and sizes of rival-country companies.
"Information on customs tax rates and non-tariff measures; samples of origin certificates; agreements, current developments and details specified by our foreign trade consultants; changes and trends in import and export data on a country and sector basis; mandatory documents in exports, such as essential conditions, criteria and legislation – almost any information that an exporter needs to enter the market will be shared with our exporters with the most effective visuals and in the most up-to-date form," Pekcan said.
She said the platform offers the latest technologies and has comprehensive content compatible with Turkey's technology and value-added export-oriented growth targets. All the development processes for the platform were shaped in the meetings held with local firms, she said.
A chatbot that is to be developed with AI algorithms will be commissioned for the second phase of the platform to answer all kinds of questions from companies at every hour of the day.